Maidaan Movie Review: Ajay Devgn Is UNSTOPPABLE – Unadulterated & Informative Entertainment!

So, I had the privilege to witness the much anticipated “Maidaan” this Eid. A movie which focusses on a story that shockingly many Indians had no idea about. A biopic based on the life of Syed Abdul Rahim and his career, which defined the golden era of Indian football, or, better said, the only golden era of Indian football. Starting with the 1952 Olympic Games, the film introduces us to the dark days of Indian football when the team was losing matches in one-sided encounters, the coach didn’t have the authority to choose players, and the committee members were more interested in food and discussions over religion and how local boys should get more chances because football is popular in the state. Despite that, Syed demands a complete charge, and he gets it. He elects players from different parts of the country and makes a team that goes on to defeat Australia in 1956’s Olympics. Team India ‘s performance improves, but the medal box remains empty. A self-goal done by mistake throws India out of the 1960 Olympics, and Rahim Saab is asked to resign from his post. He then learns about his lung cancer and demands one more chance to coach Team India because he may not have time after that. How Rahim and his team create history at the Asian Games 1962 against all odds is what awaits you in the rest of the film.

Maidaan has a story that can be molded into anything, a Chak De! India level of perfection or an Azhar like disaster. Saiwyn Quadras, Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta’s story somewhere covers everything but still there’s something missing. There are moments that will make you clap, whistle & melt your heart but this genre has given us so many memorable films, you kind of expect the same from Maidaan. It’s not at all an average film or even an above average one, it’s an above-good movie which could’ve been excellent.

The whole set-up of vintage India is the major highlight of the film as it’s every bit of beautiful. The production value looks top notch. At some places, the green screens are bit of a turn-off, but a normal cine-goer will hardly notice it. With one of the best climaxes ever seen, director Amit Sharma and team achieve a thrilling high. From the word go, the movie just races along-with its fast-paced screenplay but lags somewhere in between.

Ajay Devgn explores various shades in the film and nails every single one of it. He’s high on energy throughout his performance and that goes in his favor. He delivers one of the finest performances of his lifetime & promises every ounce of entertainment.

Priyamani surprises as a Hyderabadi wife & master’s the accent. She’s a delightful surprise and supernatural.

The portrayal of Roy Chaudhary will go down as one of the best performances under the filmography of Gajraj Rao. He’s flawless in the film & share some amazing scenes with the others.

Amit Sharma had a very tough goal to achieve, and he manages to pull it off with some misses. He justifies the script & tries to deliver it with the maximum impact. This easily could’ve gone to the boring side but thanks to Amit’s direction & screenplay, it manages to keep you stick to your seats.

A. R. Rahman’s Team India Hai Hum is the best song of the lot & adds the entertainment value to the story. Ajay Devgn and teams’ presence makes an average song like Ranga Ranga bearable. Mirza wasn’t needed but it’s there to strengthen the chemistry factor between Ajay & Priyamani. The background score by A. R. Rahman is exactly what a film like Maidaan needed. Though I missed a song like the title track of Chak! De India throughout the film.

All said and done, Maidaan is a teamwork & hence it’s victorious. Ajay Devgn is unstoppable & Maidaan will do nothing but add yet another hit to his account. Watch it for the pure and informative entertainment.

Three and a half stars!

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Movie Review: Randeep Hooda’s Artistic Dedication & Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s Awe-Inspiring Life Churn Out a Distinctively Educating Biopic

A movie that had me really intrigued ever since its first look came out last year was the story of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, written, directed and starring Randeep Hooda. A biopic in its truest sense, Randeep Hooda has literally spent over two years with project making sure that this story of a celebrated Indian Freedom Fighter and the astonishing and heartbreaking journey he has experienced gets told to the world.

The film focusses on the life of Veer Savarkar, a prominent figure in India’s freedom struggle against the British and a much talked about Freedom Fighter even today due to the polarizing viewpoints many have. His ideology regarding how he foreshadowed India as an independent nation, his creation of the Abhinav Bharat Society, his anger towards the British seeing the sheer misery, violence and injustice around him, his role at the India House as he went to England to practice law, the years of torture endured by him in the jail of Ratnagiri and especially Kala Pani, the much talked about Mercy petitions, the role of the Congress, the concept of Akhand Bharat, his strong opposition to the Muslim League & Jinnah’s dream of the creation of Pakistan and the ideological differences he had with Mahatma Gandhi forms several prominent beats of the film’s screenplay.

The effort that has been made by Randeep Hooda to make sure this project materializes into a reality has been a sight to see and here’s me doing my bit to tell you the good and bad aspects of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar so that you guys can ultimately decide whether to watch it in theatres or not?

The fact that Randeep Hooda is headlining this movie like no one’s business by writing the screenplay, dialogue, directing, and acting in it, is to be celebrated and appreciated. The herculean task in this one is not just writing a story and translating it on the big screen, it is to justify a life that existed and give him the homage that the country failed to for years and only gave him a lot of injustice.

Randeep Hooda has marinated himself so much in this source material that he almost writes a love letter to Veer Savarkar. But he makes sure it isn’t a flowery or whitewashing move. For a first timer, Randeep ends up leaving rough edges and ones that are important.

Veer Savarkar led a life that was meant to be a story. Of course, there must be changes and amends to the chronology of things, but even the standalone episodes of his career and personal journey are so interesting and they deserved to be told. So, the task at the hands of makers is to tell this story in a way that it doesn’t end up looking like another biopic taking the same route.

Hooda keeps the narrative linear. The story in the movie travels almost through decades starting from the year 1897 to 1966. Between this, there is country, family, trauma, life, and its difficulties. Hooda makes sure you feel it all.

What works for me is that he doesn’t over-simplify the world of pre-independence. For the ones who have never touched a history textbook, the jargon and few terms will make you feel alien, and you deserve it. It only adds up to the experience and makes you realize how genius minds these are. There’s Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Madan Lal Dhingra, Bhikaiji Cama, Nathuram Godse and Vasudev Chapekar, and they just enter the screenplay without any special introduction. You are supposed to know them because you have kind of studied about them.

Veer Savarkar was a human and he had friends and life where a special introduction doesn’t show up on their heads. I love when filmmakers think of their audience as literate people who know things.

There’s a whole lot of history that plays up on the screen. Hooda makes sure not everything only worships his subject but also shows his flaws, his stone-hearted nature at times, and his cunning greedy attitude. But the indulgence also affects the screen time which seems a bit stretched at some points.

Randeep Hooda has gone beyond his limit to shape Swatantrya Veer Savarkar and there is no way he could have let anything go wrong from at least his end. The actor has to age back and forth, and he manages to make us believe and invest through all of it. You can see him put those efforts. It’s one hell of a Randeep show and he deserves to be seen.

Ankita Lokhande plays Veer Savarkar’s wife Yamunabai. The actor is all forms of amazing for the lack of a word. In the most traumatic of the situations where Savarkar is still composed, she makes you feel the height of pain the family has gone through. What starts like a stereotypical character gets so nuanced after a point. Another nod to the good writing.

Rest everyone does their jobs earnestly and creates a world that is lived in and authentic. There are a lot of good actors involved for parts that are almost special appearances but crucial. You will know. Amit Sial is beyond reviews for such parts now.

Randeep Hooda as a director is like a free-flowing river. There is no set blueprint or map to his direction. But that also works in his favor. As a director he decides to invest less time in things that the audience already know.

What he shouldn’t have done is add hints of the big events that are about to come. He adds quick visuals like you are being foretold the future. He uses this to join two scenes and that end up breaking the tone.

The music is moving but also a bit extra in some parts. Can’t deny Vande Mataram is placed in a way to churn out emotion and it does that successfully.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is a movie that must be celebrated because an artist has tried to come out of his comfort zone and tell a story not many could dare. It is about a man who gave this country everything but was compensated with brutality. It is a story that must be told and heard!

4/5 Stars!